Case study on the mining-induced stress evolution of an extra-thick coal seam under hard roof conditions

Abstract

A strong mining disturbance may cause the superposition of local stresses and serious disasters such as crushed supports and severely destroyed roadways. To study the distribution law of mining-induced stress under hard roof conditions, an advance abutment pressure distribution model was developed. By monitoring the support pressure, a novel method of reckoning intensive factors was proposed, and then, the pressure distribution characteristics were obtained. An innovative in situ test of the mining-induced stress increment was performed. At the Tongxin coal mine, the field monitoring of no. 8309 working face revealed the following. (a) The peak position of the fully mechanized working face with a hard roof was 5.9 m away from the mining face in which the average intensive factor K was 1.48. The pressure of the single props developed could be roughly divided into the fluctuation, slow increase, and stable stages. (b) A theoretical model of the stress evolution of the working face was proposed. Using an in situ uniaxial compression test, a law governing the variation of the advance abutment pressure was developed. The peak strength was reported to be 36 MPa, which is consistent with the advance prop pressure. (c) Mining-induced stress violently fluctuated during the process of top coal caving; the K values in the supports in the middle of the working face and their rates of growth were apparently higher than those in the end supports. A Gaussian distribution of K was established for this phenomenon. The results obtained provide first-hand data for safe and efficient mining under similar geological conditions.